Writing

At Bridgeway Federation, we are passionate about empowering every child to become a confident, articulate and creative communicator. Our ambition is for all pupils to make excellent progress in writing, speaking and listening, recognising and valuing each child’s unique starting point and learning journey.

Children are immersed in rich, language-filled environments and inspired by high-quality texts that spark curiosity, imagination and a love of words. We strive to nurture confident writers who enjoy expressing their ideas and who develop the skills needed to write clearly, creatively and purposefully for a wide range of audiences. Through meaningful opportunities to write across a variety of genres, children are encouraged to take risks, think deeply and develop their own unique voice.

At Bridgeway, carefully chosen fiction and non-fiction texts lie at the heart of our writing curriculum. Writing is taught through a wide range of engaging genres and text types, enabling children to build secure knowledge of spelling, punctuation and grammar and to apply these skills confidently across the curriculum. We celebrate creativity and individuality, encouraging every child to let their imagination, ideas and personality shine through their writing as they grow into enthusiastic and capable writers.

Along with this, at Bridgeway Federation, we recognise that spoken language is at the heart of children’s learning and development across the whole curriculum. Through rich opportunities for talk, discussion and performance, pupils develop cognitively, socially and linguistically, building the strong foundations needed for success in reading and writing.

We place great value on the quality and variety of language that children hear and use every day. Through purposeful talk, children are supported to develop a wide vocabulary, secure grammatical understanding and the confidence to express their ideas clearly. Teachers actively promote high-quality discussion, enabling pupils to explain their understanding of texts, organise their thoughts before writing and articulate their thinking both to themselves and to others. Carefully structured talk is used to deepen understanding, challenge misconceptions and encourage respectful discussion and debate.

Drama plays an important role in developing confident communicators at Bridgeway. All pupils are given opportunities to explore the artistic practice of drama by adopting, creating and sustaining a range of roles. Through improvisation, scripting and performance, children learn to collaborate, respond thoughtfully to others and communicate meaning with confidence. Opportunities to rehearse, refine and share their work, as well as to watch and reflect on performances, further enrich pupils’ speaking, listening and creative skills, helping them to grow into expressive, articulate and reflective learners.